


The Right Time To Begin Something New

by MelindaTheCavalryMay



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Nostalgia, Philinda 48 Hour Prompathon, a little bit angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 20:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3262541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaTheCavalryMay/pseuds/MelindaTheCavalryMay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Philinda 48 Hour challenge on Tumblr. </p><p>A gift from Phil reminds Melinda May of memories from the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Right Time To Begin Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Don't own Marvel or AoS. Just a huge fan.

"What do you think ?" Phil asked, nervousness clear in his voice. 

"It's beautiful, she'll love it" she replied. A huge grin on her face, matching the nervousness that Phil's tone carried. 

"You really think she would ?" Phil asked again. 

"Of course .. Stop being so nervous, go and gift it to her" she replied. 

They had been discussing about this for the last one hour, and even though the nervous side of Phil Coulson was adorable, it was now getting a bit irritating and Skye's patience was wearing out. 

"AC, chill ok ? It's just a mission afterall" Skye said casually. 

"Yeah .. Just a mission" Phil replied, his tone a bit disappointed, Skye having been quite an attentive person and along with that trained by Melinda May was quick to see the frown in his tone. 

"Hey what's wrong ?" She asked quickly. 

"Nothing it's just .." Phil trailed off and came to sit on the couch with Skye as she closed the black box once again and kept it aside. 

"It's not just a mission for you is it AC ?" Skye asked softly. 

Phil looked at her and shrugged to answer her question. 

"A lot of memories are associated with that Skye" Coulson replied pointing to the box on the desk. 

"Oh" Skye replied as if she understood what Phil meant to say. "I'm sure she'll like it AC, don't worry" Skye replied with a smile and before Phil could reply she added "but to know if she does, you'll have to give this to her first, so go and give it" 

Coulson got up, confident yet nervous at the same time, when he had decided to give her this, he hadn't known how she would react, whether she would like it or not, and whether she would realise why he was giving her this, but Skye was right, the only way to find out was to give her the gift, so with the decision made, he left his office in search for her. 

May was unable to concentrate on her Tai-Chi. She hated going undercover, but this mission required her and Phil to go once again to act as a married couple in a party in order to keep an eye on a potential Hydra associate. Going with Phil was the only good thing about this mission, she hated parties, they involved dancing, laughing, chit chatting and all other stuff that May never really liked, socialising was never her strong point, thankfully it was Phil's. So he'd do most of the talking while she'd have to walk around with him holding his hand, she could do that, she always felt comfortable with Phil around. 

"It isn't working ?" She was startled by the voice and turned around to see Phil standing at the doorway of her bunk. The fact that he'd managed to sneak up on her and actually leave her startled was enough to tell how much she wasn't being able to concentrate on her Tai-Chi today. 

She simply shook her head and looked at him with a small smile. 

"I hate undercover" "you hate undercover" they both said simultaneously and chuckled at that. 

He walked in, his hands behind his back, holding a box. She had noticed the box, and knew it was meant for her but she couldn't quite decipher the reason as to why Phil seemed this nervous. 

"I .. Umm .. I brought you something, but now I'm quite not sure if I should give it" Phil said. 

Yes! He was clearly nervous, very nervous, she was confused but at the same time she found him adorable. 

"I've asked Skye like a million times if I should give you this and she made it feel like it was the right thing to do, but I know how much you hate undercover and so maybe you won't like this, but I just thought that you would ..." 

"Phil, you're rambling" May cut him off, a small smile on her face. 

Of course he was rambling, he was nervous and he would ramble like this when he was nervous, and of May hadn't realised it before, she would be sure now that he was extremely nervous. 

"Yeah!" He sighed, head lowered and she could see his ears turning red. 

"And now you're blushing, everything alright ?" May asked. Ok now he definitely was making a fool of himself, he should've never thought of this idea in the first place. 

"I should go" he said and turned around to leave. 

"No you shouldn't" May replied sternly, making him turn back around. 

"You brought me something and you shouldn't be leaving without giving it to me" she continued and put forward her hand. 

"Ok, just so you know, I really thought a lot before giving you this and it felt right" he replied, and gave her the black box he was carrying. 

The box didn't seem very heavy, so May sat down on her bed and slowly opened the box. She put aside the lid, and removed the wrapping paper inside to reveal a beautiful round neck, burgundy coloured dress. It used to be May's favourite colour and this was the exact shade she had always loved for her dresses, but what caught her surprise the corner on one sleeve, the inside of which had the letter 'M' embroidered in gold. There was something very familiar with this dress, she had seen it before, she could feel that, the 'M' reminded her of something, a memory from the past, she had seen this before, the style in which the letter was written, slanting a bit, she was quite sure this dress had been an important part of her past. A little thinking and putting the puzzles in place, a big clue being Phil giving it to her as a gift made her solve it. 

She looked up at Phil surprised. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open in shock and surprise. The small smile that formed on Phil's face was an enough confirmation that her thoughts had been correct. 

"You still have this ?" She asked, clutching the dress tight, her voice small and a bit choked up.

"Of course I do" he replied sounding as if it was the most obvious thing to know. 

"I thought that you .." She trailed off ..

"Have forgotten that day ? Never" he replied confidently. 

He came and sat beside her on the bed. 

"We were supposed to have started something new" Phil replied with a certain sadness in his tone. 

"Can I come in" She heard Phil say. 

"Of course you can Phil" May replied from her bunk. He opened the door slightly and peeped in.

"You know, you don't have to ask for permission before entering my bunk Phil" May replied keeping the mission report aside.

He smiled and came up to her bed, took off his shoes and got in beside her., resting his back on the headboard like her.

"I just like doing that" he replied shrugging. He had looked a bit nervous, May could sense that, was he going to drop out from the idea ? Was he regretting what they were about to start before even starting it ?

"You ok ?" She asked, fearing that maybe what she was thinking was right.

"Melinda, about tonight .. I was thinking .. It's just that ..." Phil said unsure of how to continue. 

"It's ok if you're not ok with this Phil, I understand, we thought that what we had was more than friendship, and decided to give it a shot, but I understand if you're uncomfortable with the idea of us dating, it won't change anything, we'll still be partner and friends"she answered his unasked question. 

"Is that what you want ?" He asked looking at her, eyes wide and surprised. 

"Huh ?" She asked confused. 

"Do you think us dating isn't really a good idea ?" He clarified. 

"I would've never said yes, if I thought that, I have always had feelings for you Phil and I always will" she replied. 

"Then why do you ask.." Phil replied.

"You seemed so nervous, I thought maybe you wanted to cancel the date but didn't know how" she replied a bit guilty for jumping to conclusions so quickly. 

"Of course I want to take you out on a date Melinda, you don't know for how long I've been wanting to do that" he replied, a smile on his face forcing May to give a matching smile to his. 

"Then .. What were you nervous about ?" She asked. 

"I know you're not really fond of gifts, or even dressing up and all but I just saw this and I really wanted to give you this, hoping you'd wear it for our date tonight, I just saw it and felt it'll look beautiful on you and bought it" he replied, he was blushing and May wouldn't refuse admitting that she was definitely falling in love with this guy in front of her, this adorable, dorky partner of hers, who wanted their friendship to be more than that. 

He presented her with a black box and it contained a beautiful dress. 

"It's my favourite colour" she said. 

"I know" he replied glad that she liked it and also proud of the fact that he knew her so well. "Look under the sleeve" he said. 

She did as told and saw the gold coloured letter "M" embroidered inside. 

"I had it embroidered" he said with a smile and continued "so that no matter where we are after years pass by, you'll remember that this was gifted by me" 

"Phillip Coulson, I absolutely love it" she said, snuggling up to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "And you know what ? I think even after years pass by, when I'll see this dress again, I'll have you beside me" she said. 

"Yeah ?" He asked looking at her. 

"Yeah" she replied looking up at him with a smile. 

She snapped back to reality from the flood of memories that filled up her mind. She was right, the next time she had seen that dress, years had passed by and he was still here just by her side. 

"I never got a chance to see you in the dress" he said, a certain sadness in his voice. 

"Never got a chance to wear it" she replied. They were supposed to have gone on their first date after having hidden their feelings for years while working as partners. She was supposed to have worn this dress for their first date, but a few hours before they could go, she had received a call from Fury, asking them to report to the headquarters immediately as they had to leave for an urgent mission in Bahrain. She had come out of it changed, a different person, let go dating, she had turned into someone who thought she didn't even deserve the friendship Phil had offered to her, his confidence that she'll be fine again was something she didn't believe. They never got a chance to go on that date, or give a chance at their friendship being something more. 

"Would you..." He paused before continuing "would you wear it for the mission today ?" He asked a bit apprehensively. 

"Of course" she replied immediately, as all smile gracing her face, if this was all he wanted from her for everything he had done for her, she would. 

He nodded and got up to leave but paused after a few steps and turned to look back at her. 

"Melinda" he asked. 

"Yeah Phil ?" She looked up at him. 

"You were right you know ?" Phil said

She looked a bit confused, so he decided to explain "you said that the next time you'd wear this dress again, I'd still be there by your side" he replied. 

"I guess I have some kind of superpower of predicting future" She said with a small chuckle causing him to laugh along. 

"And what about the other thing ?" He asked after a moment, looking at her intensely. 

"Other thing ?" She asked standing up and walking up to him. 

"You said you always had feelings for me and that you always will, so do you still ..." He trailed off. 

She looked into his eyes, the intensity in his eyes matching that of the question asked a moment back. She exactly knew what he meant, she knew what her answer was, it was just about whether now was the time to start something that didn't work out in the past, but then they never really got a chance then, and if even after so many years, after Bahrain,New York and Hydra, they were still here, together, maybe that was a sign. 

So with confidence she replied "I've always had feeling for you Phil, and I always will" she replied, repeating her own words from past, because that was the best way she could confess. 

The smile he gave her was more than enough for her. His smile told her that he felt the same, and that he wanted to give it a shot, something they were supposed to years back but fate didn't allow them.

"So you'd like to go on a date with me after this mission ?" He asked. 

"I'd like that" she replied with a smile. 

"May ? Can I hug you ?" He asked. 

Instead of answering, she wrapped up her arms around him, resting her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, a proof of his presence there, a proof that this was finally happening. He put his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. Maybe it was ok that they weren't able to go on a date the , because now they were both different people, people who had been through everything worse that was possible and yet they were together, so maybe this was after all the right time to begin something new.


End file.
